Description

This Beef Stir Fry with Honey and Black Pepper Sauce is a quick and flavorful Asian-inspired dish featuring tender thinly sliced beef cooked with a fragrant blend of garlic, onion, and a luscious sauce made from soy sauce, honey, oyster sauce, and coarsely crushed black pepper. Perfect for a delicious weeknight meal, it’s best served immediately with rice or low-carb cauliflower rice for a wholesome, satisfying dinner.

Ingredients

Scale

Sauce

2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce (ordinary all purpose or light soy sauce)
3 tbsp honey
1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce (or hoisin sauce as a substitute)
1 1/2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (or Mirin, cooking sake, or dry sherry)
2 tbsp water
1 tsp coarsely crushed black pepper (or 1/2 tsp ground black pepper)

Stir Fry

2 tbsp peanut oil (or vegetable or canola oil)
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1/2 onion, peeled and sliced
500g (1 lb) thinly sliced beef tenderloin, flank, sirloin/Porterhouse/strip steak, or any suitable steak cut for stir frying

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Instructions

Prepare the Sauce: In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, honey, oyster sauce, Chinese cooking wine, water, and crushed black pepper. Mix well to create a balanced savory and sweet sauce with a peppery kick.
Heat the Oil: Place a wok or large heavy-based skillet over high heat and add the peanut oil. Heat until the oil begins to smoke, indicating it’s hot enough for stir frying.
Sauté Aromatics: Add the sliced onion and minced garlic to the hot oil. Stir continuously and cook for about 1 minute or until the onion turns translucent. Keep stirring to prevent the garlic from burning and to release flavors.
Cook the Beef: Add the thinly sliced beef to the wok. Stir fry for about 1 minute until the beef is just cooked to your preference. Remove the beef and onion mixture from the wok and set aside in a bowl.
Caramelize the Sauce: Reduce the heat to medium-high. Pour the prepared sauce into the wok. It will begin simmering quickly. Allow it to cook for about 1 minute until it thickens and turns a caramel color with larger bubbles forming, creating a glossy, syrupy texture.
Combine Beef and Sauce: Return the beef and onions along with any juices that collected on the plate back into the wok. Toss everything together with the sauce just until warmed through, around 1 minute. Avoid overcooking the beef to maintain tenderness.
Serve: Immediately plate the stir fry and serve with steamed rice or cauliflower rice for a low-carb option.

Notes

Soy Sauce: Use regular all-purpose or light soy sauce. Avoid dark soy sauce as it has too intense a flavor for this dish.
Chinese Cooking Wine: Essential for authentic flavor. Alternatives include Mirin, cooking sake, or dry sherry. For a non-alcoholic substitute, replace both the cooking wine and water with low sodium chicken broth or stock and reduce soy sauce to 2 tbsp.
Beef: Choose good quality steak cuts suitable for quick cooking like tenderloin, flank, sirloin, Porterhouse, t-bone, or rib eye. Slice thinly against the grain to ensure tenderness. Avoid slow cooking cuts such as chuck unless tenderized properly.
Other Proteins: This sauce and method work well with finely sliced pork, chicken, or turkey too.
Nutrition: Nutritional values are calculated per serving excluding rice.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1/4 recipe without rice (approximately 175g beef with sauce)
Calories: 320 kcal
Sugar: 12 g
Sodium: 700 mg
Fat: 15 g
Saturated Fat: 3.5 g
Unsaturated Fat: 10 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Carbohydrates: 18 g
Fiber: 1 g
Protein: 28 g
Cholesterol: 75 mg